| Around the World | ||
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Battling the Rapids | |
We had watched them build our rafts the previous day. They consisted of nothing more than
bamboo cane, tied together with bamboo leaves. All our bags were loaded on and we were distributed amongst the vessels.
One thing that we quickly learnt was that if we didn't stay well spread out, the raft would sink.We were each given a length of bamboo cane which to paddle with. They took a while to get used to, but it was good fun. Our fleet consisted of about 5 rafts. We made a conscious decision to stay near the back, so that we could gauge how rough the next set of rapids were by how our comrades got on. The rapids weren't that rough. Had we been there just after the wet season, I think it would have been more exciting. But it was still exciting, dodging boulders and manoeuvring down mini waterfalls. We were all exhausted by the time we arrived at the end of the line. The place appeared to be the graveyard for all bamboo rafts. Seemingly it is not worthwhile dragging the rafts back up river, so they are just abandoned here. All the buildings in the area were made of bamboo. The mats were made of bamboo, the cups were bamboo, it was a veritable Bamboo Wonderland. After a short rest, we all piled into the van for the long trek back to Chang Mai. We booked back into our favourite hotel and had a nice long hot bath. It felt good to be back in the land of hot water and cable TV. We had decided that it was time to hit the road again. The next day, we booked our 2nd class train tickets back to Bangkok. The plan was to fly south to Phuket once we got to Bangkok. The nice man at the station told us our train would be leaving at 17:45, so off we went for something to eat. When we arrived back at the station at 17:40, we discovered that the efficient Thai rail service had managed to send the train off 15 minute earlier than expected! There was nothing left to do but make our way to the bus terminal and buy two tickets for an uncomfortable 700 km bus ride back. This was definetly not the highlight of the trip, and it was only going to get worse. When we bought our bus tickets, we were promised that we could be dropped off at Bangkok Airport. After all, it was on the way. So at 6:30am the morning, as our bus was approaching the afore-mentioned airport, we suddenly discovered that our tour guide had lost her ability to speak english, and the airport zoomed by. The next stop was the northern bus terminal. Close enough to the airport, but I felt I was finally helping our guide remember her english, and she gestured for us to get back onto the bus. You can imagine our dismay then when we found ourselves dumped into the heart of Bangkok. We teamed up with a pair of Australians. Our plan was to go to the train station and catch a train back to the airport. Finding a taxi wasn't a problem. The problem was in getting him to go to where we wanted to go. His first stop was to the petrol station, where he proceeded to put air into his tyres - that's the Thai for you, safety conscience to the last. After about 5 minutes on the road, we realized that he was trying to bring us out to the airport. He eventually turned around and finally we got to the train station. I think we only gave him half of what the meter showed. He wasn't happy, but we didn't really care at this stage. | ||
